Before her mind could even process what was happening, his hand slid past the book and closed around her small wrist.
She went utterly still.
It wasn't a firm grip.
Oh no!
It was worse.
His fingers moved, slowly and deliberately, tracing the line of her wrist as if studying the pulse beneath her skin. Then they slid down to her palm, as though he were measuring the shape of her hand with his.
It felt almost… intimate.
The book slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor with a soft, traitorous thud.
Jia jerked back as if she'd been burned, eyes wide, her breath catching in her throat as she flinched back. She felt cold all over, like someone had suddenly emptied a bucket of ice water on her.
"What happened?" he asked, his tone impossibly neutral as she scrambled to pick up the fallen book.
What happened?
WHAT HAPPENED??!!
Was he being serious?
Did he truly not understand what he had just done?
